STUDY OF PLASMON INDUCED TRANSPARENCY

IN METAMATERIALS

A Project Report Submitted

in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for

SUMMER PROJECT
in
School of Physical Sciences

by

Jyotiprakash Satapathy
(Roll No- 1911084)

to
SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION AND
RESEARCH
BHUBANESWAR, INDIA
 DECLARATION

I, Jyotiprakash Satapathy (Roll No: 1911084), hereby declare that, this report en-
titled “STUDY OF PLASMON INDUCED TRANSPARENCY IN METAMATE-
RIALS” submitted to National Institute of Science Education and Research Bhubaneswar
towards partial requirement of Summer Project in Physics, is an original work carried out
by me under the supervision of Dr. Shovon Pal and has not formed the basis for the award of
any degree or diploma, in this or any other institution or university. I have sincerely tried to
uphold the academic ethics and honesty. Whenever an external information or statement or
result is used then, that have been duly acknowledged and cited.

Bhubaneswar Jyotiprakash Satapathy

July,2022

ii
 Certificate

This is to certify that the work contained in this project report entitled ”STUDY OF PLASMON IN-
DUCED TRANSPARENCY IN METAMATERIALS” submitted by Jyotiprakash Satapathy
(Roll No. 1911084) to the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar towards
the partial requirement of Summer Project in Physics has been carried out by him under my supervi-
sion and that it has not been submitted elsewhere for the award of any degree.

Dr. Shovon Pal

Project Supervisor
SPS
NISER, Bhubaneswar

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Shovon Pal for his constant support and
guidance throughout this project. I would also like to thank Mr. Amit Haldar for this great
help in understanding the software and clearing out the doubts. Last, but not the least, I thank
my parents for their constant motivation.

Bhubaneswar Jyotiprakash Satapathy

July, 2022

iv
 ABSTRACT

We investigate and try to understand the phenomena of electromagnetically induced trans-

parency(EIT) via various analogy and how to stimulate it in metamaterials. We also study the
excitation and modulation of EIT via a simulation using COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS software
in the THz region.Here we try to replicate the findings in the paper by Liu et al [6]. Here we
have in the unit cell a wire like structure which acts as an bright resonator and two SRRs which
work as dark resonators. The Electric and magnetic field of the wire excite the dark resonator
as we translate the SRR by the length of the wire. As a result we see modulation of EIT in the
material.

Keywords: Metamaterials, EIT, THz

v
Contents

List of Figures vii

List of Tables ix

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Metamaterials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 Split Ring Resonators(SRRs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 Electromagnetically Induced Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3.1 EIT as a Quantum Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.3.2 EIT like phenomenon in a mass and spring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3.3 EIT like phenomena in RLC circuit: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Plasmon Induced Transparency in Metamaterials 8

2.0.1 The Plasmonic structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.0.2 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Bibliography 14

vi
List of Figures

1.1 Topologies of the SRR, and their equivalent-circuit models (ohmic losses can be
taken into account by including a series resistance in the model). Grey zones
represent the metallization. Figure taken from [2] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2 The effect of EIT on a typical absorption line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.3 EIT lambda Scheme.Figure taken from [1] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.4 The classical mechanical model used to explain the EIT phenomenon. Figure
taken from [1]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.5 Frequency dependence of the absorption of the probe energy by particle 1. The
values of Ωr in each case are (a) 0.0 , (b) 0.1 , (c) 0.2 , (d) 0.3 , (e) 0.4 , and (f)
0.5 , all expressed in frequency units.Figure taken from [1] . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.6 Electric circuit employed to investigate the induced transparency. Figure taken
from [1] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1 Left: composed character of SPPs at the interface between dielectric and metal.
Right: evanescent fields in the two half spaces. [From Barnes et al., Nature 424,
824] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.2 3d model of our plasmonic structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.3 Parameters and structural view. Models made Using COMSOl as per [6] . . . . 10

2.4 Sole wire transmission spectra and field distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.5 Sole SRR transmission spectra and field distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

vii
2.6 On left column The simulated electric Field amplitude for SRR at different po-
sitions wrt the wire at 0.65THz for the whole structure.The right column is the
EIT spectrum of the corresponding structures on the left side. . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.7 Figure taken from [6] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

viii
List of Tables

1.1 Correspondences between the mechanical and electrical parameters.Table from

[1] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

ix
Chapter 1

Introduction

In the course of human civilization the material property manipulation has lead to great success
in making our lives easier and more technologically advanced. The bulk property of materials
are manipulated by mixing various kinds of materials in specific proportions to achieve desired
properties. With the continuous scientific advancements we are now able to toggle material
structure in nanometer levels. This level of control over material structure has opened up new
horizons for new and exciting materials showing exotic properties. One such material of interest
is metamaterials which is the topic of study in this report.

1.1 Metamaterials

The name “Metamaterial” comes from the Greek word “meta”, which means beyond. So, the
“Metamaterials” show the property beyond the natural materials’ property. The properties of
metamaterials depend on the geometry and periodicity of their structure. [8]

Over the past decades, metamaterials have gained an enormous interest due to their unique
and extraordinary electromagnetic and optical properties that are not found in natural mate-
rials. Some of these properties are negative refractive indices, electromagnetic cloaking, and
sub-wavelength focusing. Most modern research involving the use of metamaterial is focused
on applications such as modulators, sensors,optical filters,medical devices, and so forth.

The first and one of the most important contributions to this topic was made in 1968 by V.
G. Veselago, who said that materials with both negative permittivity and negative permeability

1
are theoretically possible [9]. In 1999, John Pendry showed a way to make left-handed meta-
materials (LHM) that did not follow the conventional right-hand rule[7]. He showed that the
split ring resonators (SRRs) exhibit negative permeability at specific frequencies that depend
on the structure dimensions. After that, there has been a boost in research in this area.

1.2 Split Ring Resonators(SRRs)

J. B. Pendry first proposed SRR in 1999 to make a negative refractive index material[7]. We
can better understand its working by considering an equivalent circuit model of SRR [2].

Figure 1.1: Topologies of the SRR, and their equivalent-circuit models (ohmic losses can be
taken into account by including a series resistance in the model). Grey zones represent the
metallization. Figure taken from [2]

√
As we can see SRR behaves like a LC circuit with resonant frequency given by ω = 1/ LC.
In this L depends on the length of the split ring and C depends on the gap length of the SRR
[4].

1.3 Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is an optical phenomenon that makes a medium

transparent within a narrow spectral range around an absorption line. In other words it is a
quantum interference effect that permits light propagation through an otherwise opaque atomic
medium.

Its theoretical concepts were first reported by S. E. Harris et al. in 1990 [5]. The classical
analogy of how one may eliminate the effect of a medium on a propagating beam, the answer is
that the electrons must be stopped from moving at the frequencies of the applied fields. If the

2
 Figure 1.2: The effect of EIT on a typical absorption line.

electrons do not move, then they do not contribute to the dielectric constant. This will occur
if, at each applied frequency, the electron is driven by two sinusoidal forces of opposite phase.

Quantum mechanically there is a destructive interference between the two path ways namely
|1⟩ - |0⟩ and |1⟩-|0⟩-|2⟩-|0⟩ as a result of which we get a narrow transparent window within a
broader absorption band.(Refer to Fig:1.2) [10]

1.3.1 EIT as a Quantum Phenomena

It is generally observed in a three level quantum system with the following requirements of the
system.

• Two of the three possible transitions between the states must be “dipole allowed”, i.e.
the transitions can be induced by an oscillating electric field.

• The third transition must be “dipole forbidden.”

• One of the three states is connected to the other two by the two optical fields.

Theoretical Model

We now focus on Lambda scheme of EIT. Here we have a 3 level quantum system where |1⟩
and |2⟩ are the ground level and |0⟩ is the excited state. Transition between |1⟩ ,|0⟩ and |2⟩ ,
|0⟩ are dipole allowed where as transition between |1⟩, |2⟩ is not allowed.[1]

The laser field coupling atomic transition between |1⟩ and |0⟩ is called ”pumping laser”
and the laser field coupling atomic transition between |2⟩ and |0⟩ is called ”probe laser”.In a

3
 Figure 1.3: EIT lambda Scheme.Figure taken from [1]

typical experiment we scan the probe laser and get a typical absorption resonance profile in
absence of the pump laser. But in certain conditions when the pump field is switched on we
get a narrow transmittance peak in probe frequency as shown in the diagram 1.2. The effect
depends strongly on the pump beam intensity

1.3.2 EIT like phenomenon in a mass and spring.

Now we will model EIT in classical mass spring model. In this model we have two particles
having masses m1 and m2 with spring of spring constant k1 and k2 connected to particle 1 and
2 respectively with spring of spring constant K as a coupling spring.

Figure 1.4: The classical mechanical model used to explain the EIT phenomenon. Figure taken
from [1].

Initially particle 2 is in rest while force Fs (t) is applied to particle 1. Particle 2 is allowed
to move only via K and k2 spring due to particle 1 movement. In our analysis we will consider
m1 = m2 = m and k1 = k2 = k i.e both ground states are in same energy level. So we can
write the Equation of motion (EOM) as

Fs −iωs t
x¨1 (t) + γ1 x˙1 (t) + ω 2 x1 (t) − Ω2r x2 (t) = e
m (1.1)
2
x¨2 (t) + γ2 x˙2 (t) + ω x2 (t) − Ω2r x1 (t) =0

4
 where γ1 and γ2 are the dissipation constant of particle 1 and 2, also we define Ωr = K/m
the frequency associated with the coherent coupling between the pumping oscillator 2. To solve
the power absorbed we take

x1 (t) = N e−iωs t (1.2)

where N is a constant. Taking similar eq for x2 we get

(ω 2 − ωs2 − iγ2 ωs )Fs e−iωs t

x1 (t) = (1.3)
m[(ω 2 − ωs2 − iγ2 ωs )(ω 2 − ωs2 − iγ1 ωs ) − Ω4r ]

so the power absorbed becomes

−2πi(Fs )2 e−iωs t (ω 2 − ωs2 − iγ2 ωs )

Ps (ωs ) = Fx˙1 (t) = (1.4)
m[(ω 2 − ωs2 − iγ2 ωs )(ω 2 − ωs2 − iγ1 ωs ) − Ω4r ]

In the figure we plot Ps (ωs ) vs ωs − ω i.e. detuning and we see as we increase coup ling Ωr
we see a absorption dip. This due to destructive interference between normal modes.

1.3.3 EIT like phenomena in RLC circuit:

We can also replicate EIT like behaviour from a RLC circuit. We use the following circuit to
mimic the EIT behaviour in a circuit.

Correspondingly we will get the equation for charge in the circuit as

q¨1 (t) + γ1 q˙1 (t) + ω 2 q1 (t) − Ω2r q2 (t) = 0

Vs −iωs t (1.5)
q¨2 (t) + γ2 q˙2 (t) + ω 2 q2 (t) − Ω2r q1 (t) = e
L2

Here γi = Ri /Li ,ωi = 1/Li Cei and Ω2r = 1/(L2 C). These equations coincide with the eqs.
(1.1) using the correspondences shown in Table 1 and ω1 = ω2 . Therefore, both models describe
the same physics.

5
Figure 1.5: Frequency dependence of the absorption of the probe energy by particle 1. The
values of Ωr in each case are (a) 0.0 , (b) 0.1 , (c) 0.2 , (d) 0.3 , (e) 0.4 , and (f) 0.5 , all
expressed in frequency units.Figure taken from [1]

6
Figure 1.6: Electric circuit employed to investigate the induced transparency. Figure taken
from [1]

Mechanical Analogue Electrical Analogue

γ1 & γ2 R1 /L1 & R2 /L2
k1 & k2 L1 & L2
m1 & m2 1/C1 & 1/C2
K 1/C
x1 & x2 q 1 & q2
−iωt
(F/m)e Vs (t)/L2

Table 1.1: Correspondences between the mechanical and electrical parameters.Table from [1]

7
Chapter 2

Plasmon Induced Transparency in

Metamaterials

Plasmons are quantum of plasma oscillations in a material. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs)
are electromagnetic waves bound to the interface between a metal and a dielectric.

A plasmonic metamaterial is a metamaterial that uses surface plasmons to achieve opti-

cal properties not seen in nature. Plasmons are produced from the interaction of light with
metal-dielectric materials. Under specific conditions, the incident light couples with the surface
plasmons to create self-sustaining, propagating electromagnetic waves known as surface plas-
mon polaritons (SPPs). Once launched, the SPPs move along the metal-dielectric interface.[3]

Figure 2.1: Left: composed character of SPPs at the interface between dielectric and metal.
Right: evanescent fields in the two half spaces. [From Barnes et al., Nature 424, 824]

8
Plasmonic Modes:

These plasma oscillations create plasmonic modes similar to modes on a string. These plasmonic
modes are either super-radiant(bright mode) or sub-radiant (dark mode) in nature depending
on the coupling of the plasmonic modes with the incident radiation. The bright mode has large
scattering cross section and low quality factor while dark modes have small scattering cross
section thus have a significantly larger quality factor.[10]

This analogy naturally carries on to the dark modes in EIT thus we can mimic EIT in
plasmonic metamaterials by a coupling between a bright and dark modes.

Previous studies have shown that manipulating the EIT effect could be realized by breaking
the symmetry of the unit cell structure or by varying the relative distance between the res-
onators, thus modifying the coupling between the bright and dark modes.[10] . Here we will
show that symmetry can be preserved while exciting EIT in the structure.

2.0.1 The Plasmonic structure

The focus of my study is to simulate the structure given in [6] and replicate and understand
the result in COMSOl software.

The Plasmonic structure consists of two SRRs on either side of a wire. These were made
from Aluminium of 200nm thickness of a n-type Silicon substrate. We excite the EIT resonance
by sliding the SRRs along the length of the wire.(Ref. Fig 2.2)

9
 Figure 2.2: 3d model of our plasmonic structure.

(a) Top view of the structure (b) Parameters used

Figure 2.3: Parameters and structural view. Models made Using COMSOl as per [6]

When we incident radiation in y-direction we observe a typical Localised surface plasmon

resonance at around 0.65 THz for sole wire(Ref. Fig:2.4 ) Where as for SRR E field in y
direction fails to excite resonance but field in x direction excites resonance at around 0.6 Thz
(Ref Fig:2.5 ) which is close to the value of the sole wire.

10
 (a) E field amplitude for the sole wire at 0.65THz (b) The Transmittance spectra for the wire.

Figure 2.4: Sole wire transmission spectra and field distribution.

(a) E field amplitude for the sole SRR at 0.65THz (b) The Transmittance spectra for the SRR.

Figure 2.5: Sole SRR transmission spectra and field distribution.

We see sharp amplitude modulation as we move the SRR through the length of the wire.
The EIT like structure is evident. When the SRR is at the bottom of the frame (Ref Fig:2.6
) there is high coupling and we see a Transparency peak at about 0.65THz. As we move the
SRR up er see the coupling decrease in strength and transparency peak vanish and we bserve
the typical resonance spectrum of the sole wire.

11
Figure 2.6: On left column The simulated electric Field amplitude for SRR at different positions
wrt the wire at 0.65THz for the whole structure.The right column is the EIT spectrum of the
corresponding structures on the left side.

12
 (a) Field amplitude in Wire (b) Surface current distributions of the two excitation
pathways on SRRs

Figure 2.7: Figure taken from [6]

Analysis:

We can understand the reason of the above observed behaviour from the above two figures.
We see in 1st figure the field amplitudes of E field and H field around the wire. From second
figure we see that when we pace the SRR in the bottom of the wire both E and H filed induced
currents flow in same direction thus activating the SRR i.e. the coupling between the bright
and dark modes are maximum. Now as we gradually take the SRR towards the top we see the
current due to E field begins to diminish and then changes the direction. At the top the current
due to E and H field cancel each other completely. Thus resulting in no coupling between bright
and dark modes.

This is the reason why we see transmittance peak when the SRR is in the lower position
while we see no such phenomena while it is in top.

2.0.2 Conclusion

In summary we have investigated the possible structure in which without altering the coupling
between the bright and dark mode resonances we have induced EIT like behavior in a metama-
terial. This was possible due to the excitation of dark mode resonances at certain positions with
respect to the bright mode structure. Translating the SRR creates destructive pathways in the
LC oscillation in the SRR induced by the wire which is the cause of the amplitude modulation
we see here. This design of metamaterial and modulation of EIT will help in creating slow light
devices in future.

13
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[2] Juan Domingo Baena, Jordi Bonache, Ferran Martı́n, Ricardo Marqués Sillero, Francisco
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[3] William L Barnes, Alain Dereux, and Thomas W Ebbesen. Surface plasmon subwavelength
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14
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15